In many industries and applications there has been a shift away from printing documents on bond paper toward printing documents on direct thermal paper (e.g., thermal media).
A particular type of a document is a form-card which combines the benefits of a form, such as a letter and the like, with the benefits of a card, such as coupon and the like. Generally, the form-card document is generated in such a way that the card may be detached easily from the form and used independently. For example, the form-card document may be a letter from an insurance company enclosing a vehicle insurance card that may be easily detached from the letter. The card may be an integral part of the form-card document or may be adhered to the form-card document, with respective mechanisms for securing the card to and detaching the card from the form.
The form-card document may be pre-reprinted with general-type information, such as logos and decorative artwork. Variable information, which may include recipient name and address, identification number and the like, may then be printed on the form-card document. Typically, conventional form-card documents are generated from bond paper and are printed with variable information using laser jet or inkjet printers. Once finalized, the form-card documents are delivered to the recipients that may be identified by the variable information.
Single-sided direct thermal printers have been used extensively to image thermal media such as receipts. In single-sided thermal printing, information is printed or imaged only on one side of the document. Dual-sided direct thermal printing of documents, described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,784,906 and 6,759,366, is however, fairly new. In dual-sided direct thermal printing, a thermal printer is configured to allow concurrent printing on both sides of a thermal media moving along a feed path through the thermal printer. In such a printer, a direct thermal print head is disposed on each side of the thermal media along the feed path. In operation, each thermal print head faces an opposing platen across the thermal media from the respective print head. During printing, the opposing print heads selectively apply heat to the opposing sides of dual-sided thermal media, comprising a substrate with a thermally sensitive coating on each of the opposing surfaces of the substrate. The coating changes color when heat is applied, such that printing is provided on the coated substrate.
As the application of dual-sided direct thermal printing technology permeates into and gains acceptance in various industries and applications, it would be advantageous to provide a dual-sided thermal form-card document capable of being imaged using a dual-sided direct thermal printer.